BM 68 – European Students’ Union calls for the abolishment of “Tvangsmerit” (forced credit transfer)
ESU notes with disappointment the policy of using forced credit transfer on students in Denmark (the so-called “Tvangsmerit”)
The forced credit transfer policy was intended to make students graduate faster, but it does not take into account the effects on students’ learning or on society. The possibility to transfer credits gives the students a chance to be acknowledged for prior studies or studies abroad. Before the new system of forced credit transfer, it was voluntary for the students to transfer the credits that they deemed relevant. This was done by application to a democratic structure at the local level of the higher education institutions. In this way, the students had the possibility to combine their education according to their specialisation, while quality of learning was still ensured.
With forced credit transfer now in place, students are involuntarily being assigned ECTS-points for prior studies, regardless of relevance for the student. Therefore, they have a reduced opportunity to specialise their education due to lack of remaining ECTS in the study programmes. There are already a number of examples, where students have been assigned ECTS from courses not relevant for their new education, for instance after changing study lines or going on exchange abroad.
ESU considers this highly problematic for the quality of education and an infringement on the autonomy of students and furthermore not in line with the intention of the recognition of prior learning processes as adopted by ministers of the European Higher Education Area. We therefore
urge Danish politicians to abolish this practice.
